Madagascar is a successful 2005 computer-animated comedy produced by Dreamworks Animation. The movie is about four friends- Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo and Melman the (hypochondriac) giraffe- who live in New York's Central Park Zoo. Since they have lived their whole life in the zoo they are unaware of what the wilderness is like or the fact that Alex is their natural predator. After they are shipped off to a wildlife reserve for escaping, they become shipwrecked on the coast of Madagascar. There they meet a society of lemurs and Alex's true nature starts to emerge.In late 2008 a sequel titled Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa came out. The sequel takes place shortly after the first movie. The penguins fix a crashed airplane and the zoo animals (plus King Julien and Maurice) try to fly back to New York but run out of fuel (or perhaps more accurately, run out of plane) and crash. They land in a wildlife reserve and discover not only that there are others like them, but the Lion pride that runs the place is Alex's family.A third film titled Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted has been announced for 2012. The animals are still trying to find a way back to New York, and end up journeying to Europe, where they find help in a traveling circus. Another sequel has also been considered - the writers have said that ideally they want to see Alex and his friends get back to New York.There have also been two Christmas Specials: the short film A Christmas Caper (set before the first movie) and the TV special Merry Madagascar (set between the first and second movies). A Valentine's Day TV special, Madly Madagascar, has been announced as well.The series is notable for featuring the voices of comedians Chris Rock and Ben Stiller, as well as Friends alumnus David Schwimmer. On March 29, 2009 a Spinoff called The Penguins of Madagascar premiered on Nickelodeon. It takes place in Central Park Zoo and most notably features the penguins, lemurs, and chimps. Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman do not make appearances in the series.
The Madagascar films provide examples of the following tropes:
A Minor Kidroduction: As a tribute, "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" starts off with Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman as kids.
Actor Allusion: In the beginning of the first movie, Alex's face while posing for a camera is the Blue Steel, the signature pose of Derek Zoolander.
The Alleged Plane: So much so, that one of the visual signs of its malfunctioning is that one of the engines isn't on fire. In Madagascar 2, the plane also has at least three skeletons still on board from its last flight - one in second class, one in first class, and one in the cockpit. A fourth skeleton was left behind in Madagascar hanging from a parachute trapped in a tree.
American Accents: The tourists in Escape 2 Africa all have New York accents.
Anthropomorphic Zig Zag: The animal characters go between walking on all fours to walking like human beings like it's nobody's business.
Artifact Title: The second film starts in Madagascar, and has nothing else to do with it.
And the third will probably have nothing to do with it.
Ascended Extra: The little old lady from the first movie plays an important role in the second.
Actor Existence Failure: Bernie Mac, who voiced Zuba in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, passed away from complications of pneumonia on August 2008, a couple of months before the movie was released into theaters.
Black Comedy: In the first film, Marty, Melman, and Gloria try to save a duckling after witnessing a mouse get attacked by a snake and carried off by a hawk. When they take the duckling to a nearby lake, a crocodile swoops up and swallows him whole.
Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: "The foosa. They're always annoying us by trespassing, interrupting our parties, and ripping our limbs off."
Breakout Character: The Penguins, who got their own short, and later an animated series.
Butt Monkey: Mort. Even more so in the television spinoff.
Carnivore Confusion: A major plot point of the first film, completely ignored in the second.
Cassandra Truth: Maurice is constantly dismissed when trying to explain that Alex's odd behavior around Marty is because of his carnivorous nature.
Chekhov's Gun: "When we need water, we build a dam!"
Not to mention the bite marks on Marty's butt from the first film, which Alex uses to tell the difference between him and the rest of the herd of identical zebras in the second.
Compressed Vice: Melman's crush on Gloria flat out didn't exist in the first movie. It was, however, shown in a flashback in the second movie as having existed for years.
Cool Old Lady: The little old woman from the first movie, who beats up a lion while everyone else is running in terror. She returns in the second, and actually contrives to become even more dangerous.
Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: "I'm going to strangle you! And bury you! Then dig you up and clone you, and then kill all your clones! And then, I'm never talking to you again!"
Cuteness Proximity: Invoked (unintentionally) when Julien first tests the New York animals by throwing Mort to them.
Gloria: I just wanna dunk him in my coffee!
Doing It for the Art: One joke in the first movie required a million leaves to be created for it. One joke.
Elderly Blue-Haired Lady: Not literally, but the Penguins identify that old woman by the codename 'Bluehair'.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: Marty (the zebra), Gloria (the hippo) and Skipper (the penguin) all manage to get crap past the radar over the course of the movies.
The HELP message having the "p" fall down to spell out HELL.
When 'landing' the plane in the second movie, Skipper has this exchange with the psychotic Rico:
Skipper: Rico, you've had your fun. Pull up. Gear down. Gently. You just want to kiss the ground. Just a peck, a smooch, like you'd kiss your sister. (Rico slams the landing wheel into the ground so hard that it snaps off) Skipper:(irritated) I said kiss it!
During the Meadow Run scene, when Marty realizes that Alex is mad, he says "oh" followed by a drawn out "sh" sound, which turns into "sugar." This appears to merely be something of a Last-Second Word Swap, unless you notice that he says "Sugar Honey Ice Tea."
Gossip Evolution: The monkeys' relaying of Alex's message changed "Get out of here, as fast as we can" to "We must blow up the dam" and "There must be another way than killing me" to "Kill me. It's the only way."
I Am A Monster: Alex says this once his lion instincts start kicking in out of hunger, and his friends start turning into Meat-O-Vision steaks.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: When Melman sees Gloria on her date with Moto Moto, he says something like, "You don't know now now lucky you are. You've found the perfect woman, so you better treat her like a princess." Then he goes on to tell what he would do if he were in Moto Moto's shoes.
Marty: ...Excuse Me, you're biting my Butt! Alex: (His teeth clamped on Marty's Butt) ....No I'm not.
Interquel: Merry Madagascar takes place between the first and second movies.
Interspecies Romance: In the sequel, Melman reveals he has feelings for Gloria. By the end of the movie, it's mutual.
Island Help Message: They were trying to say "HELP," but it ended up "HELL".
I Was Just Joking: In the first movie Skipper knows perfectly well that everybody thinks he and his team are crazy. He doesn't seem to care.
Gloria: Where are the people? Skipper: We killed 'em and ate their livers. [Gloria looks horrified. Skipper just grins] Gotcha, didn't I?
Jive Turkey: Marty the Zebra is the only one of the group to use street slang.
Keet: Alex is really hyperactive, especially in the first one. So much that Skipper refers to him as "that psychotic lion". This is probably a gag on that Alex called the penguins psychotic earlier.
Meaningful Echo: Alex says to Marty, "I'm thinking of a song. It's a wonderful song. I think you're familiar with it." Then after singing, the first verse of New York, New York, Alex says, "C'mon, you know the words. Two little words." Later, Marty says and does the same thing after he tells Alex, who is on the fossa side of the island so that he can protect Marty and the others from himself, that he's not leaving without him.
Meaningful Name: According to the November 2008 issue of National Geographic Kids, "Moto Moto" in an African language (they didn't say which one, possibly Swahili) does mean "hot hot".
Meat-O-Vision: An interesting twist, in that the character in question (a lion) is looking this way at a zebra, which in the wild would have been among its prey.
Mouth Cam: The sequence where Alex is trying to be friendly with Mort, with a Mouth Cam shot used to show just how threatening he is unintentionally being.
Nice Hat: King Julien consistently makes himself bigger and more garish crowns with leaves, small animals, carved wood, flamingo feathers... anything. What he does with the old ones is unknown. In the first movie he has two different crowns and in the second he changes between three different crowns.
No Cartoon Fish: The fish are the only non-anthropomorphic animals in the entire first film, and thus the only things predators can eat without feeling guilty.
Averted in the second film, with the screaming fish at the watering hole.
Noisy Nature: Played with: The main characters are animals in a New York City zoo. Fair enough - but in the background are generic jungle noises. The cast go to bed... and someone yells to turn off the ambiance. When that happens, a generic New York City background noise replaces it, complete with sirens. Alex the lion then yawns and relaxes and goes to sleep. Surprisingly, this is Truth in Television, since many zoos do have random jungle white noise played throughout the park to make the guests (and animals) feel more immersed.
Non-Mammal Mammaries: Surprising averted in a film where hippos can walk on their back legs.
Obfuscating Stupidity: The ending of the first film implies this may be the case for Julien. May.
Older than They Look: Mort. Word Of God says that Mort is actually 35. The scene revealing this was cut out. This takes him from cute, to downright creepy.
Only Sane Man: Maurice - although not by a whole lot. He has a tendency to agree with King Julien on a lot of his majesty's crazy ideas.
Talking to crowd: What does that do? Excellent question. First, my sacrifice goes in the volcano. Then, the friendly gods eat up my sacrifice. As water god: Mmm, very nice. Thank you for the sacrifice. As Julien: Here have another sacrifice. As water god: No, I've had enough for today. As Julien: Listen, I'm going to be very insulted if you don't take another. As water god: I don't want another sacrifice, okay? As Julien: But look at you! You look skinny! As water god: No! I've had enough! Is that clear?
The sequel takes it Up to Eleven with references and gags the target audience couldn't possibly get, including Shout Outs to The Twilight Zone, West Side Story, and there's even a slightly troubling joke about Mort trying to get scissors and hand cream through airport security...
King Julien: Welcome to Madagascar! Marty: Mada-who-ha? King Julien: No, not who-ha. As-car.
Pec Flex: Moto Moto does this a few times in Escape 2 Africa.
Planet of Steves: Every zebra in the sequel acts and nearly looks the same as Marty. Alex is only able to tell Marty apart from the others because of the teeth marks on his butt from the previous film.
Pop Star Composer: will.i.am co-wrote and performed the songs and music of Escape 2 Africa.
Prequel: A Christmas Caper takes place before the first movie.
Savage Piercings: Spoofed in the second film. When the other giraffes make Melman their witch doctor, they present him with the requisite nose bone. "Don't worry, it's a clip-on."
Again to Planet of the Apes in the second movie, Skipper says he's so happy at the monkey he could kiss him. Monkey: All right, but you're just so darned ugly." and casually smooches him, to Skipper's surprise.
Mort acting like gremlin on the plane's wing, and initially identified as one.
Shown Their Work: There's a scene in the first film where Melman sits in a hole in the ground and waits to die, with his will written in the sand. The commentary notes that someone went and researched it, so what was written in the sand was a legally binding will in the State of New York. Also, Phil's sign language is genuine.
Soft Glass: The old lady flying through the jeep's windscreen. Though this is the same woman who can hold her own against lions, and survived the same jeep knocking her over.
Soundtrack Dissonance: "What a Wonderful World" plays while Alex flees his friends and his friends (elsewhere) see various animals getting eaten as they take a walk.
Somewhat justified in that the music itself is more melancholic than you would anticipate from the text.
Another during the second movie. While Alex is fighting the old lady, a fast polka version of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly's theme is played
It's reprised at the end when Nana (the old lady) beats up Makunga.
Also in Escape 2 Africa, the plane rescue of Alex has "Copacabana" playing.
And in Escape 2 Africa, the jeep the penguins steal has a tape that plays "More Than A Feeling".
Strange Minds Think Alike: In A Christmas Caper, after Private runs off, Skipper tells his men to think about the Penguin Credo. Kowalski thinks that he is referring to "Never bathe in hot oil and bisquick." Later, when the penguins find Private again, Skipper tells him to remember the Penguin Credo, and he replies "What does swimming in bisquick have to do with anything?"
Trailers Always Spoil: In the teaser to Escape 2 Africa, Melman admits that he loves Gloria. At first, this seems to be a gag based on the fact that their plane is falling out of the sky, but it turns out that it's the driving point of Melman's plotline in the movie.
Wedding Day: About at the end of the sequel, we're lead to believe that Melman and Gloria are getting hitched. Then it pans down to reveal that its really Skipper marrying Lola, a bobble-head doll, which was an even weirder coupling.
Wiper Start: The penguins' first attempt at Rico hotwiring the safari jeep results in this.
Worthless Yellow Rocks: The gold and diamonds the animals dig up at the watering hole in Escape 2 Africa, which the penguins take for theirselves. Justified, as the animals are desperately looking for water, and the gold and gems are useless to them.
You No Take Candle: Alex, while trying to explain his plane crash to the animals in Africa.
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